"The only sound reason for buying a stock is that it is rising in price. If that is happening, no other reason is required. If that is not happening, no other reason is worth considering." - Nicolas Darvas
Monday, 13 July 2015
Sunday, 12 July 2015
Life Rules
1. Karma exists. It may not be instant like in that John Lennon song, but it happens. May take a long time, might not be easily seen, may not be visible to anybody but you, the one who was scathed, but it’s real.
2. Niceness triumphs. Although no one can be nice all the time. And sometimes you have to push back. But if you’ve got the option, be nice, people appreciate it.
3. Be yourself. We’re all individuals. That’s what attracts others to us, our uniqueness. Don’t try to imitate someone else, focus on your strengths and heighten them. Everyone can’t do everything. Don’t try to fit your square peg in a round hole. But your trapezoid will appeal, if you just let it shine.
4. You can’t please everybody. It’s a phony concept that flames out. Be thankful you’ve got your group, your friends, your family, your fans. There are those who would appreciate you whom you’ve never met, focus on meeting them, not those who don’t care.
5. Education is everything. And it doesn’t have to happen in school. But at this late date we can understand why reading, writing and ‘rithmetic are so important. Yes, in the internet era, reading and writing are everything (typing too!) As for math… You can’t do a deal without knowing the numbers. And everybody wants to do a deal.
6. Learning is lifelong. You keep gaining insight and then you die. Life is a puzzle, one in which you’re constantly delivered new pieces. And you can’t figure some stuff out until you get this new information. Which is why age equals wisdom and the young may have their youth, but the old have all the happiness.
7. Possessions mean less as you age. You can’t take them with you. Furthermore, we’re evolving into a no possessions era. One in which you can rent a ride and you don’t even have to own a car. Experiences are everything.
8. No one has the answers when it comes to love. There’s no perfect partner, if you’re looking for one you’re doomed. The key is to play. Relationships are the salad dressing of life, without them it tastes very bland.
9. Do the right thing. Not only will it make a difference, you’ll feel better about yourself.
10. Time starts accelerating sometime in your late thirties or forties. If you’re not paying attention, if you’re not steering, chances are you’re not gonna get where you want to go.
11. Inspiration comes from displacement. Get out of your comfort zone, the rewards are legion.
Source: http://lefsetz.com/
2. Niceness triumphs. Although no one can be nice all the time. And sometimes you have to push back. But if you’ve got the option, be nice, people appreciate it.
3. Be yourself. We’re all individuals. That’s what attracts others to us, our uniqueness. Don’t try to imitate someone else, focus on your strengths and heighten them. Everyone can’t do everything. Don’t try to fit your square peg in a round hole. But your trapezoid will appeal, if you just let it shine.
4. You can’t please everybody. It’s a phony concept that flames out. Be thankful you’ve got your group, your friends, your family, your fans. There are those who would appreciate you whom you’ve never met, focus on meeting them, not those who don’t care.
5. Education is everything. And it doesn’t have to happen in school. But at this late date we can understand why reading, writing and ‘rithmetic are so important. Yes, in the internet era, reading and writing are everything (typing too!) As for math… You can’t do a deal without knowing the numbers. And everybody wants to do a deal.
6. Learning is lifelong. You keep gaining insight and then you die. Life is a puzzle, one in which you’re constantly delivered new pieces. And you can’t figure some stuff out until you get this new information. Which is why age equals wisdom and the young may have their youth, but the old have all the happiness.
7. Possessions mean less as you age. You can’t take them with you. Furthermore, we’re evolving into a no possessions era. One in which you can rent a ride and you don’t even have to own a car. Experiences are everything.
8. No one has the answers when it comes to love. There’s no perfect partner, if you’re looking for one you’re doomed. The key is to play. Relationships are the salad dressing of life, without them it tastes very bland.
9. Do the right thing. Not only will it make a difference, you’ll feel better about yourself.
10. Time starts accelerating sometime in your late thirties or forties. If you’re not paying attention, if you’re not steering, chances are you’re not gonna get where you want to go.
11. Inspiration comes from displacement. Get out of your comfort zone, the rewards are legion.
Source: http://lefsetz.com/
Quote for the day
“Investing defensively requires that when everything seems to be going well and investors are feeling positive, we must sense the implicit danger and prepare for negative developments.” - Howard Marks
Saturday, 11 July 2015
Iron Rules of Money
By Morgan Housel
No matter who you are, how much you earn, or how you invest, a few truths apply to you and your money.
Spending money to show people how much money you have is the surest way to have less money.
According to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, "the poorest [5%] of Americans are better off than more than two-thirds of the world population." Furthermore, "only about 3% of the Indian population have incomes higher than the bottom (the very poorest) U.S. percentile." And those figures are adjusted for differences in cost of living.
The easiest way to judge how well you're doing is to compare yourself to people around you. The curse of living in the United States is that most people are doing well, so your own success looks ordinary. If you want to feel rich, look at the 90% of the world that isn't American or European. You'll realize that feeling rich is just a mental game.
The goal of investing isn't to minimize boredom, it's to maximize returns.
Successful investing is pretty boring. Its main requirement is patience and inaction. Most people demand more excitement, so they tweak, fiddle, and adjust their investments as much as necessary to destroy as much of their wealth as possible. If you want to do better than average at anything, you must do something that most people can't. In investing, that means putting up with perpetual boredom. It's a serious skill.
The only way to build wealth is to have a gap between your ego and your income.
Getting rich has little to do with your income and everything to do with your savings rate. And your savings rate is just the difference between your ego and your income. Keep the former in check and you should be fine over time.
The most valuable asset you can have is a strong propensity to not care what others think.
Most people are bad with money, so being good means doing things differently than they do. You won't spend as much. You'll invest differently. You'll grow wealth slower. This can make you look like a fool in the short run. But who cares what others think? They're probably idiots. As Charlie Munger put it, "Someone will always be getting richer faster than you. This is not a tragedy." Not only is it not a tragedy, but it's a necessity. The ability to not care what other people think about what you're doing is mandatory in achieving abnormal results.
Spend more time studying failures than successes.
You can learn more about money from the person who went bankrupt with a subprime mortgage than you can from Warren Buffett. That's because it's easier and more common to be stupid than it is to be brilliant, so you should spend more effort trying to avoid bad decisions than making good ones. Economist Eric Falkenstein summed this up well: "In expert tennis, 80% of the points are won, while in amateur tennis, 80% are lost. The same is true for wrestling, chess, and investing: Beginners should focus on avoiding mistakes, experts on making great moves."
People are flawed, so a lot of stuff makes no sense.
As James Grant put it, "To suppose that the value of a stock is determined purely by a corporation's earnings is to forget that people have burned witches, gone to war on a whim, risen to the defense of Joseph Stalin, and believed Orson Welles when he told them over the radio that the Martians had landed."
Anything can happen at any time for any reason.
You might be laid off next week. You can be sued tomorrow. Or win the lottery. Maybe you'll get cancer. Or a huge promotion. Stocks can rally for twice as long as you think and crash twice as fast as you assumed. History is one damned thing after another, most of it involves money, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Good luck.
Source: http://www.fool.com/
Spending money to show people how much money you have is the surest way to have less money.
Singer Rihanna earns tens of millions of dollars, but found herself "effectively bankrupt" in 2009. She sued her financial adviser for not doing his job. He offered a legendary response: "Was it really necessary to tell her that if you spend money on things you will end up with the things and not the money?"
The first iron rule of money is that wealth is the stuff you don't see. It's the cars not purchased, the clothes not bought, the jewelry forgone. Money buys things, but wealth -- assets such as cash, stocks, bonds, in the bank, unspent -- buys freedom and security. Pick which one you want wisely.
Wealth is completely relative.
The first iron rule of money is that wealth is the stuff you don't see. It's the cars not purchased, the clothes not bought, the jewelry forgone. Money buys things, but wealth -- assets such as cash, stocks, bonds, in the bank, unspent -- buys freedom and security. Pick which one you want wisely.
Wealth is completely relative.
According to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic, "the poorest [5%] of Americans are better off than more than two-thirds of the world population." Furthermore, "only about 3% of the Indian population have incomes higher than the bottom (the very poorest) U.S. percentile." And those figures are adjusted for differences in cost of living.
The easiest way to judge how well you're doing is to compare yourself to people around you. The curse of living in the United States is that most people are doing well, so your own success looks ordinary. If you want to feel rich, look at the 90% of the world that isn't American or European. You'll realize that feeling rich is just a mental game.
The goal of investing isn't to minimize boredom, it's to maximize returns.
Successful investing is pretty boring. Its main requirement is patience and inaction. Most people demand more excitement, so they tweak, fiddle, and adjust their investments as much as necessary to destroy as much of their wealth as possible. If you want to do better than average at anything, you must do something that most people can't. In investing, that means putting up with perpetual boredom. It's a serious skill.
The only way to build wealth is to have a gap between your ego and your income.
Getting rich has little to do with your income and everything to do with your savings rate. And your savings rate is just the difference between your ego and your income. Keep the former in check and you should be fine over time.
The most valuable asset you can have is a strong propensity to not care what others think.
Most people are bad with money, so being good means doing things differently than they do. You won't spend as much. You'll invest differently. You'll grow wealth slower. This can make you look like a fool in the short run. But who cares what others think? They're probably idiots. As Charlie Munger put it, "Someone will always be getting richer faster than you. This is not a tragedy." Not only is it not a tragedy, but it's a necessity. The ability to not care what other people think about what you're doing is mandatory in achieving abnormal results.
Spend more time studying failures than successes.
You can learn more about money from the person who went bankrupt with a subprime mortgage than you can from Warren Buffett. That's because it's easier and more common to be stupid than it is to be brilliant, so you should spend more effort trying to avoid bad decisions than making good ones. Economist Eric Falkenstein summed this up well: "In expert tennis, 80% of the points are won, while in amateur tennis, 80% are lost. The same is true for wrestling, chess, and investing: Beginners should focus on avoiding mistakes, experts on making great moves."
People are flawed, so a lot of stuff makes no sense.
As James Grant put it, "To suppose that the value of a stock is determined purely by a corporation's earnings is to forget that people have burned witches, gone to war on a whim, risen to the defense of Joseph Stalin, and believed Orson Welles when he told them over the radio that the Martians had landed."
Anything can happen at any time for any reason.
You might be laid off next week. You can be sued tomorrow. Or win the lottery. Maybe you'll get cancer. Or a huge promotion. Stocks can rally for twice as long as you think and crash twice as fast as you assumed. History is one damned thing after another, most of it involves money, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Good luck.
Quote for the day
"Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." - Dale Carnegie
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